Konya, Cappadocia & Istanbul - 12 May

Day 37

We arrived in Konya late afternoon so had an hour to freshen up then met the group in the foyer for dinner.

It had been a long day travelling but very scenic with us climbing higher and higher into the mountains, getting colder as we went and seeing snow capped mountains nearby.

We had an orientation walk then dinner on the deck of a restaurant overlooking the mosque. We were freezing so rushed home afterwards to warm up and get to bed!

Day 38

The coffee at breakfast was average so we headed around the corner to a local cafe and Turkish coffee. We met Soner who worked there and sat with us practicing his English. We only had a quick chat as we needed to get back to meet the group but asked to swap Facebook at the end ... I still haven't added him though :-s

We went to see the mosque and sufi museum which unfortunately was a bit boring for us. We were then taken to see how a lady made her felt products. She took a lot of care to show us but we weren't really into it and would have preferred free time or to be on our way to Cappadocia earlier!

When that was finished we had only 45 minutes free time to get some souvenirs & snacks then met back at the hotel for our private bus to Cappadocia.

We arrived in Cappadocia another 4-5 hours later. A 45 minute refreshment break at the hotel then had our orientation walk, followed by a bus trip up to the top of a neari mountain for sunset photos.

The landscape was stunning and filled with fairy chimneys. They're actually volcanic ash stacks that were carved out several centuries ago to make homes, churches etc.

Afterwards we went for dinner nearby and had a lamb casserole that is cooked in a terracotta pot.

Day 39

We were up at 4am as we had a pick up at 4.30am. That arrived on time and we were whisked away to Kapadokya Balloons office to be fed and prepped for our balloon flight!

Unfortunately the sun had already risen when we got out to the field where they were inflating our balloon (6am), but that probably wasn't a bad thing as it was bloody cold!

We all hopped in once it was inflated and started to rise into the air and drift up over the picturesque fields and above a large hill which on the otherside you could see over 100 other balloons also filling up the sky!

It looked absolutely incredible and I think I spent most of the flight taking photos of that rather that the landscape!!!

We did pass over many of the valleys though with many amazing fairy chimneys and even fallic symbols!

The flight went for approx. 1 hour 15 which was just long enough and fortunately we had a very smooth landing.

The company pulled out all the stops - decorating the balloon with flowers for photos and serving us cake and cherry juice mixed with champagne - our pilot Baris said it was cocktail called Cloud 9 - it was definitely good!

We went back to the hotel about 8am for our second breakfast. Then out for a 2 hour hike in a nearby valley at 9, followed by lunch, rush back to the hotel for a power nap and then quad biking for 2 hours!

There's no rest for the wicked!

The quad biking took us through many local valleys and was fun but fairly slow and tame.

Afterwards they served wine and cheese but we left quickly as wanted to scrub off all that dust and be back earlier than the meeting time for dinner so we could have a drink at Fatboys.

As planned we had our drink and met the owner, Yulmaz who has an Australian partner so there was lots of Aussie slang being thrown about and our group made arrangements to have dinner there the next evening.

That evening we had a home dinner at Yulmaz's aunties place. Her husband was at work but her and her daughters served us up a delicious local meal and with lots of love and care!

Day 40

The next day we did a tour of the underground city. It was amazing that they lived underground hiding out from invaders and were never taken over.

After we went to an over priced pottery shop which had stunning items but some even ranging in the thousands!!!

I didn't buy a thing as there was cheaper to be found in the bazaar.

Fabi and I got dropped off afterwards at the open air museum where we explored inside the fairy chimneys, where we saw the insides converted into churches and painted with biblical scenes. We've seen so much amazing history it was hard to appreciate the significance of it, but was in awe of how the biblical story was also carried to Turkey where it appeared to be strongly worshipped ... not too mention all around the world where it still is to present day!

That evening we had dinner at Fat Boys where the food was delicious. We had gave our tour leader and a Columbian tour mate their first taste of vegemite - one turned their nose up & tried not to show it but the other one enjoyed!

We had shisha and drinks after, then ended up chatting and dancing with thr local boys and retuning very late.

Day 41

I awoke with a hangover but had to drag myself through the day ... A 8.30am minibus 1 hour to the airport, waiting for our 11am flight. When we arrived we were on the asian side so 1.5 hours through traffic to arrive at our old hotel about 3.30pm.

We picked up the items we left there then got dropped nearby our new hotel where a man offered to help us find our hotel, but we spent almost an hour looking for it! We even gave him the address and he asked many people but for some reason things in this town are always so hard to find!!!

At least people are helpful though! Usually they don't ask for money but this one did ... I gave him 3 lira ($1.50) and a kangaroo key ring!

I then spent the rest of the evening in bed throwing up unable to have food and water. Sadly this isn't the first time this has happened to me so after some googling I self diagnosed myself with acute gastritis and had a mylanta which fortunately helped me keep some food down.

I certainly wont be getting into the tequila shots again any time soon or that evil raki that they gave me a nip of at the end of the evening ... it tasted like ouzo and was definitely my undoing!

Day 42

I awoke feeling a little better but ate plain food all day and many many mylanta!

We caught a tram to kabatas then a funicular to taksim square where we shopped getting many tops of different kinds for good prices.

We made our way down the main street and had a drink at the hotel accross from the Galata tour as recommended in Lonely Planet.

We then caught a ferry from Karakoy to Kadikoy where we shopped some more then had dinner at a restaurant on the eat street. Unfortunately ive found most of the food fairw plain in Turkey and not a lot of effort is put in (except the boat and home stays) and felt this place only wanted a quick turnover.

For the first time ever I've actually wanted the McDonald's or Burger King just for variety! Susie was not keen though :-(

We caught a different ferry back to Eminomu and a tram back to our hotel.

Day 43

As the market is closed Sunday we did our shopping Saturday.

We headed to the Grand Bazaar and spent many hours haggling to get fair prices. I walked away with 4 x anatolian style hanging lanterns for 200 lira (approx $110 AUD), 2 tarnished silver colour trays for 100 lira ($55 AUD), a shisha & accessories for 60 lira ($33 AUD), Abercrombie & Fitch hoodie for 40 lira ($22).

The whole process is so timely ... the looking around for what you want and asking prices, the negotiation, the drinking of tea, the wrapping of the purchase! We even got asked if we wanted to meet the boys later for dinner and drinks but we declined.

We were exhausted after so tried a new hamam. It wasn't as professional as Cemberlita - she gave me a harder scrub, but then a crazy weird painful massage!

I was our last night but we were exhausted so had dinner nearby our hotel and a bottle of wine.

Day 44

The wine was a bad move on my part as my tummy was sore again!

I didn't feel the best for our last day but dragged myself along with Susie to the blue mosque, basilica cistern, topaki palace but due to the queues and lack of enthusiasm we skipped aya sofya.

Instead we enjoyed lunch on a nearby rooftop overlooking it and the Bosphorous behind it.

We had a shuttle to the airport and arrived to long queues for passport control.

We had our last taste of Turkish hospitatily coming accross a Turkish hosty on our Emirates flight who was funny and helpful.

Finally arrived home 24 hours later - walking into my apartment was like stepping into a luxurious hotel!

There's no place like home!